– They took care of some remnants of the surface of the lake. The weather conditions did not allow anything special to be done with an underwater search on the site. In the coming days, U.S. personnel will have a better overview of what’s on the seabed, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said late Monday.

In a separate statement, General Glen VanHerck, who heads the US Northern Command, said a navy vessel was monitoring an area approximately 1,500 yards by 1,500 yards where more pieces were expected to be found.

Two days earlier, an American fighter jet shot down the balloon off the state of South Carolina.

China claims it was a lost weather balloon. The United States claims it is a spy balloon that collects intelligence information.

Kirby said the United States had no intention of returning the remnants of the ball to China. VanHerck says the material will be analyzed.

On Tuesday, China followed suit and said the ball belonged to Beijing.

– What I can say is that this plane belongs to China, not the United States, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning.

Mao’s statement was in response to a question about whether China had asked the United States to return the wreckage of the balloon.

[ Forsker: Derfor er ballongnedskytingen i USA en pinlig affære for Kina ]

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